BROOKLYN, June 4—The cancellation of not one—but two—student-demanded Eid celebrations at this majority-Black high school is a symptom of deepening racism inside the bosses’ institutions. This suppression unmasks a Black liberal administration using the rhetoric of inclusion (see bottom) to uphold racist divisions in a capitalist society.
In response, the working-class community is learning how to fight for antiracist solidarity under a chilling political climate. This small fightback has opened the doors to deeper political relationships and exposure to communist ideas through CHALLENGE. For many students, this struggle was their first step in questioning capitalist authority as part of an organized collective. Progressive Labor Party makes it clear multiracial and student-worker unity are mortal threats to the threads of this profit system. One way the bedrock for communism grows is through seeds of class struggle and solidarity.
Suppressing working-class unity
In 2025, we are bearing witness to an all-out assault on working-class people—migrants terrorized, kidnapped, and deported; students policed and suspended for minor infractions; healthcare, medicaid, and social security funding attacked; DEI programs gutted; antiracists doxxed and removed for fighting genocide; abortion effectively criminalized; and the equivalent of six atomic bombs dropped on Gaza, and more. The liberal school’s Black woman principal joins in to attack a majority-Black student population for organizing multiracial unity. That’s the political climate we are breathing in.
After the silencing of Eid in April, student organizers gathered to plan their response (see box). Even after multiple attempts—the issue was presented at a union meeting, in which ten teachers were openly supportive another Eid proposal was submitted—the administration stonewalled the effort.
This isn’t about stopping a celebration; it’s about how capitalist institutions deeply fear, and hence suppress, students and staff organizing independently. While the working class has yet to realize their potential power, the bosses shiver at the first sign of unity.
the bosses’ censorship, some students and staff independently organized a henna table, distributed stickers that decried Palestinian genocide, wished Eid Mubarak, and demanded “RESPECT” in four languages. We created informal spaces for Arab and Black students to mingle and build solidarity. These small actions are the seeds of a future communist society, one built on multiracial unity and working-class power.
The alternative to this profit-based system is to fight for a needs-based one, where every-day students and workers like ones at this school are the decision-makers. To see a glimpse of that, many were invited to May Day, the communist holiday. Through struggles like these, CHALLENGE readership increased by nine people.
An annual tradition of unity broken
At this mainly Black school, Eid celebrations without pushback date back to 2019, and students from all backgrounds participated with enthusiasm every time. Eid was a cultural moment of joy, food, and recognition for students who are so often asked to shrink themselves. It was always explicitly about creating a space of multiracial unity in a public school system that fails working-class, migrant, Black, and Brown youth.
So derailing Eid hits different. Students are not only grieving what they see in the news; now they’re being told that even a cultural celebration in their school is too much. It sends the message that certain students don’t fully belong.
Why the obsession to police celebrations? In a system that thrives on dehumanization and disunity, students independently organizing a cultural event is a declaration: we matter and an injustice to one is an injustice to all. Schools, institutions controlled by the ruling class, fear ideas that threaten to challenge this chokehold of capitalist isolation.
Bosses sow chaos, we can sow solidarity
The assault on Eid is no isolated matter. Many see a deeper pattern of canceling or delaying or last-minute changing initiatives that build unity—student events, advisories, clubs, field trips, and so on. The goal, it seems, is disorganization and demoralization. Because divided and disorganized we fall.
One thing is for sure: Black faces in high places don’t serve the working class. This mainly-Black administration clearly fears student organizing, teacher organizing, and family organizing. And what better way to keep us disconnected than by fostering chaos and confusion?
We need a different model rooted in collective organizing by students, families, and education workers. We need student-family-worker unity now—to fight back against anti-Muslim racism, against a dictatorship over school culture, and against the manufactured chaos meant to keep us apart.
And in this model is the seed for communist ideas, for that’s a system based on working-class power. To nurture and sustain any growth, the working class needs to be won to the long-term solution of communism.
Background:
In April, less than five business days before the high school’s planned Eid celebration, the Administration sabotaged it—declaring Eid will be “postponed” because we hadn't done anything for Easter. The postponement was de facto cancellation.
They say: “[W]hy…only have an Eid celebration when there are hundreds of Christians in the school too…If [Student Council] truly represent and respect the whole student body, then everyone can be celebrated.”
We fight to say: This isn’t inclusion—it’s racism. Muslim students matter, and multiracial unity matters. This is a racist attack on students, period.
This student organization has been disciplined in the past for their pro-student activities, so it’s unsurprising the administration attacks one of the few events that unites students.
Students debated the merits of the administration's top-down decision to change Eid. Their responses:
“I’m a Christian…and there are so many celebrations [but] the one day for Muslims after a month of fasting gets looked over? That’s genuinely so frustrating”
“We’re so bummed out!”
“How about we call it Eid-ster?!”
“I don’t know why they’re complaining now”
“I think the fact the the school ISN’T majority Muslim is the biggest reason to have an Eid celebration”
On the surface, the idea of combining Eid and Easter into one “interfaith” event may sound like inclusivity. The logic behind this decision reeks of “All Lives Matter.” It pretends to call for unity, but in reality, attacks student unity.
After the discussion, the students reached a decision: the Eid celebration should stand on its own. The student organization sent a second event proposal to celebrate the Eid in June. This was immediately dismissed in four words: “we already discussed this.”
When another student heard of the original postponement, they were inspired to write an article about it for the school newspaper, which became the basis for conversations with students and co-workers.
